When a helping word makes you cry help!

October 15th, 2011

Q: I transcribe sonogram reports for a doctor who routinely uses this passage: “should any nodule become larger or develop/develops suspicious characteristics.” I’m confused—“develop” or “develops”? I know “nodule” is singular and needs a singular verb, but does “any” change this?

A: The right choice is “develop,” but “any” has nothing to do with it. And it doesn’t matter whether the subject is singular or plural. Here’s the story.

The passage you cite includes two verbal phrases “should … become” and “should … develop.”

You may be confused because there’s only one “should” (the second is understood) and because a couple of words slipped in between “should” and the first verb.

Here’s the passage with several omitted but understood words in brackets: “should any nodule become larger or [should any nodule] develop suspicious characteristics.”

The “should” at the beginning of the original passage is a helping word, or auxiliary, that indicates the two verbal phrases are conditional. (A conditional verbal phrase describes an action that depends on another situation.)

Technically, the word “should” here is a modal auxiliary, a verb that’s used, among other things, to indicate the conditional mood.

So why doesn’t it matter whether the subject is singular or plural?

Because a modal auxiliary like “should” is accompanied by an infinitive (“become” and “develop” in this case). And the infinitive remains the same for singular and plural subjects.